Buying a new computer : Help

[yacarob1]

I am looking to replace my 6 year old Dell Dimension because it keeps restarting and is becoming unreliable.

I often find myself in mid-trade when the thing decides to re-boot.

I am looking for a fairly reliable machine ( Packard Bell ?, Compaq ? whatever ) with at least IGB of RAM and 80 GB hard drive.

It also needs to double up as a file server for a small home network of 4 computers.

Looking online at PC World I have noticed that most of the operating suystems that come with their computers is now Windows XP media edition and not XP Home.

My main question revolves around the operating system. Does XP media center do everything that XP Home does and more and would it be advisable to buy a machine with this operating system if I am using it as a normal desktop Pc and not for entertainment purposes ?

Grateful for any advice.

 

[pmannion9]

I wouldn't buy a new pc until the New Year when the new operating system Vista becomes available.
Pc's will generally have to be of a higher spec to run this operating system and this in turn should drive down the cost of current adequate performance machines.

 

[Directional]

If you buy a new PC new before Vista, stick to XP Pro, as the kernel is different from home/media edition, not quite sure what the difference is but I vaguely recall it being based on the more stable win2000/NT platform.

So long as you buy top deck CPU and memory (2GB+) you will be fine to run Vista when its released (due out 30th Jan 2007).

I am currently running Vista RC1 version on a Dell Precision 690 dual 3.6ghz Xeon & 2Gb RAM with no troubles at all. Its stable & it really flies.

 

[yacarob1]

Would this spec to the biz ?

Specification for this FUJITSU SIEMENS 3604

Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Clock-Speed 2.0GHz
Cache 1 mb
Operating-System Windows XP Home Edition
RAM Memory 2048 mb
Hard Disk Capacity 200 Gb
Optical Drive 1 Multi-Format Dual Layer DVD Re-Writer Drive
Plug In Removable Hard Drive No
Built-in TV Tuner No
Built-in Digital TV Tuner No
Remote Control No
802.11g Wireless Network Ready No
Graphics Memory 64 mb
Graphics Description ATI X1300
Sound Card On-board stereo
Soundcard included No
Speakers Included No
Media Card Reader 11-in-1
Built-In HP Docking Station No
Keyboard Yes
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse No
Mouse Yes
Weight 12.5 kg
Height 373 mm
Width 200 mm
Depth 485 mm
Network LAN On-board 10/100 Ethernet
Software Titles Included Microsoft Works 8.0

 

[Racer]

I am looking for a fairly reliable machine ( Packard Bell ?, Compaq ? whatever ) with at least IGB of RAM and 80 GB hard drive.

You want a fairly reliable computer and you want Windows as an OS !


Personally I prefer to build my own computers, more fun and you learn how to fix any problems too

 

[CYOF]

As Racer says, Windows is not the most reliable, but unless you are going to trade large size - say 100K+shares per day - you will be fine with XP Professional.

Do not use XP Home or Media Centre - unreliable compared to XP Professional.

Your style of trading will determine your layout.

If you are a casual trader - your old PC will probably do fine if you wipe it, re-format the drive, add some memory and install XP Professional.

If you are going to daytrade - placing fast trades using E-signal, DTN-IQ, MBT, IB, etc, then you will be much better off to have a separate PC for your charting (high spec with direct DSL Broadband connection - make sure the contention on the line is less that 20 - preferably 10 or lower - but the lower you go the more you will pay) and another PC for your order entry software.

If your main PC goes down in a trade - you can exit safely. Also, an old laptop with a good battery is also handy in case of a real emergency (your Electricity goes out), but remember you will also need power for your DSL Broadband modem - so also get an adequate rated UPS.

All in all, the cost is nothing compared to what a bad trade can cost you - so don't be afraid to spend a few thousand on your setup - the costs are also tax deductible against your profits.

Regards,

 

[Faris]

Hi Cyof

If one was planning on trading large size, which OS would you recommend? I ask as you mentioned windows would not be the most reliable.
Are you also saying it wouldn't be a good idea using Vista once its released?

Faris

As Racer says, Windows is not the most reliable, but unless you are going to trade large size - say 100K+shares per day - you will be fine with XP Professional.

Do not use XP Home or Media Centre - unreliable compared to XP Professional.

Your style of trading will determine your layout.

If you are a casual trader - your old PC will probably do fine if you wipe it, re-format the drive, add some memory and install XP Professional.

If you are going to daytrade - placing fast trades using E-signal, DTN-IQ, MBT, IB, etc, then you will be much better off to have a separate PC for your charting (high spec with direct DSL Broadband connection - make sure the contention on the line is less that 20 - preferably 10 or lower - but the lower you go the more you will pay) and another PC for your order entry software.

If your main PC goes down in a trade - you can exit safely. Also, an old laptop with a good battery is also handy in case of a real emergency (your Electricity goes out), but remember you will also need power for your DSL Broadband modem - so also get an adequate rated UPS.

All in all, the cost is nothing compared to what a bad trade can cost you - so don't be afraid to spend a few thousand on your setup - the costs are also tax deductible against your profits.

Regards,

 

[cjb]

XP media has a lot of features that would simply slow down an office type computer and are unnecessary, Personally I would go for XP Pro, usually cheaper too, particularly the Academic, and u usually get a cheap upgrade to vista option as well, althouigh vista has strong restrictions on use. XP Pro will also have support much longer than home and boots tons quicker. A reboot problem is usually a memory problem, might be worth swapping with someone to just check
Chgris

 

[roguetrader]

Minimum recommended requirements for Vista as I have seen a lot of fantastical specs quoted as necessary to run it.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/systemrequirements.mspx
Would try and get XP pro but home and Media are plenty stable, media is just a jazzed up version of XP that will translate to something like Vista Premium, as for resourses, with 2gig of ram on board I doubt you'll have any probs unless ur playing F.E.A.R between trade, that's probably overkill..
Trading is not that demanding on a PC, your style of trading would likely affect the spec a bit, don't getcaught up in the "spend a fortune" idea, your just wasting money

 

[countryroads]

Would agree with most just get your old computer sorted for now .Strip it and have XP pro you now have the choice of XP pro 2006 and the same but 2007 edition have been told 2006 is more stable . Ive been using it for Trading is fast and no problems . If your serious about trading forget all the games you dont need it or get two computers one purely for work the other for fun .

Hope it helps .

 

[yacarob1]

If I install XP Pro on the server and have XP Home on the other computers in the network, are there likely to be network connectivity problems ?

 

[rossored]

If I install XP Pro on the server and have XP Home on the other computers in the network, are there likely to be network connectivity problems ?

nope, none at all.

 

[ewilcox]

I might be wrong but I was under the impression XP Home, Pro and Media editions are all basically the same operating system just with extra bits turned on and off? I think the issues you are really talking about are reliability and performance. Any XP based computer properly patched and with a decent amount of RAM is going to be able to be more than adaquate for trading basically any volume of shares and should be more than stable enough. My only previso to that statement being that if what you mean is providing enough CPU cycles to power a analytics (excel) package making trading decisions resulting in 100K shares traded thats another matter entirely! Equally rossored is entirely correct XP home, pro and media editions are all fully interoperable (as of course would any linux based computer). Some final thoughts:

1) Key three components for a trading PC will generally be size/quantity of monitors, decent amount of RAM and a decent processor (2Ghz or greater).
2) As far as waiting untl the new year goes yes Vista is coming but if you think thats going to be more stable than XP then you are probably in for a surprise. I'm sure in the fullness of time it'll be great but it will be buggy as hell for the first six months and I wouldn't put any production PC onto vista for a good while until its reliability has been proved. Also with vista you almost certainly are going to need a new PC so if you do go down this route make sure you also add to the list of key components a decent graphics card as vista really will appreciate this.

 

[CYOF]

Hi Cyof

If one was planning on trading large size, which OS would you recommend? I ask as you mentioned windows would not be the most reliable.
Are you also saying it wouldn't be a good idea using Vista once its released?

Faris

Hi Faris,

To be honest, I am not an expert on OS's - I know that Linux is very popular but the available software is limited. Not sure about Vista, and I have no interest in using it when it becomes available.

My own 8 multimonitor setup is with a Dell P4 1.8, 512MB Ram, 2 x 9 GB SCSI hard drives (one for OS and trading programmes and the other as a backup),3 x Appian Jeronimo PCI Graphics Cards (each card has a 4 x 4 MB VGA Output - which will do up to 12 monitors), Windows 2000 Operating System.

With this I also have separate IBM P2 400 also with Win 2000, which I use for the DSL connection and Order Entry Software. This then feeds an 8 port network box, which the Dell P4 is connected to via a standard 10 Mb network card.

No other software is on any of the PC's - I use my laptop for MS Office, etc, and also have my Order Entry Software on the laptop as a backup in case the IBM PC crashes. My laptop is a 15.4 Widescreen Sony Vaio - 1 year old and a superb machine.

When I say 100K + per day I mean daytrading with up to 5K shares per trade.

This may not seem big to some, but if you consider that you may do 20 trades in 1/2 to 3/4 hr, then the potential to loose is big - so I would definitely look at the best setup available if I was going to trade this size.

5000 Shares x 20cent = $1000

$1000 x 5 trades = $5000 and 5 losing trades out of 20 is very real with daytrading.

So, if one may loose $5K per day, nothing but the best is required to remove any limitations such as speed reduction due to a sub standard PC configuration.

If I get to the 5K size per daytrade - then I would build my own PC as noted by racer.

Overall, you can get a good setup without spending a lot of money. If you are going to daytrade, a fast DSL connection with a low contention ratio is more important for speed than the PC. My future spend will be on 32" LCD's - to do away with the multi monitors and save desk space. If I get to the 5K shares per trade, then I will get the fastest PC available as mentioned above.

Regards,

 

[Racer]

CYOF have you thought about more RAM? should help a lot if you can fit it in

 

[CYOF]

Hi Racer,

I am not daytrading at the moment - setup is more or less as I left it. I will add extra memory when I return in 2007, as I have plenty of it.

I collect good old PC's - usually get them for nothing - and use best parts to assemble some good practical machines.

I have built a high spec gaming machine for my son - AMD 64 Bit, 2 x 512 Graphics, 2 Gig Professional Ram, and the usual high spec stuff like power supply, cooling fan, cpu thermal paste, etc. Oh, I forget to mention the very important coloured lights

 

[Racer]

Hi Racer,

I am not daytrading at the moment - setup is more or less as I left it. I will add extra memory when I return in 2007, as I have plenty of it.

I collect good old PC's - usually get them for nothing - and use best parts to assemble some good practical machines.

I have built a high spec gaming machine for my son - AMD 64 Bit, 2 x 512 Graphics, 2 Gig Professional Ram, and the usual high spec stuff like power supply, cooling fan, cpu thermal paste, etc. Oh, I forget to mention the very important coloured lights

Sounds like the sort of thing I like to do with my computers.. chop and change them to suit

oh and I presume you added water cooling to the gaming one

 

[CYOF]

Sounds like the sort of thing I like to do with my computers.. chop and change them to suit

oh and I presume you added water cooling to the gaming one

Not yet - but it looks like it may be required later on. It is working fine at the moment - the only problem is my son won't get off the damn PC - blast that Counterstrike anyway

I had trouble getting the 2 Graphics cards working together for the fast framerate - so I have a spare 512 Mb at the moment. Both Nvida cards were factory overclocked.

I may use the 512Mb with the old Dell XPS that my son had - and use this as my main PC for trading. I am looking at buying a 32" LCD from ALDI next week - they have a HMD ready 32" Widescreen LCD TV on sale next week for 650 Euro - very good price when you consider Dell is currently selling its 30" Widescreen at 1,500 Euro - down from 2K Euro. The Nvida 512 Mb card has 2 X HMD output - ideal for the 32" Aldi LCD TV and my Dell 20" widescreen which I have already bought. Dell is currently selling the 20" widescreen for 485 Euro - so you can see how good the Aldi 32" offer is for 650 Euro - it also takes a VGA input for standard PC cards - but I am not sure what the quality will be like. The HMD should give the same high quality as a Digital LCD - at least I am hoping it will :?:

 

[yacarob1]

Has anyone had any dealings or have any experience with the computers manufactured and supplied by Time Computers ?

Seems that they offer high specs at very affordable and competitive prices.

Would appreciate some feedback.

 

[CYOF]

Has anyone had any dealings or have any experience with the computers manufactured and supplied by Time Computers ?

Seems that they offer high specs at very affordable and competitive prices.

Would appreciate some feedback.

Check out the prices here - hard to beat and also some good special offers at times.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/